


Spirit Connection

by SlasherFiend



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, F/M, Haunting, Josh Lives, Josh is Sad, Josh is not ok, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Psychologists & Psychiatrists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 11:14:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9179098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlasherFiend/pseuds/SlasherFiend
Summary: The group hunt ghosts for fame on youtube, when Josh calls about his house being haunted. The Unvielers (the group's name thanks to Chris) goes to check it out and are unprepared for what they find.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [carrionofmywaywardson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/carrionofmywaywardson/gifts).



> This was supposed to be uploaded some time ago but I had to get it just right first.
> 
> Hannah and Beth are dead to begin with and haunt Josh, causing his mental health issues. You have been forewarned.
> 
> The place that is listed for the haunting is a real place but as far as I know, it's not haunted.
> 
> Not beta read.

Pre-Investigation  


Sam stared at the picture on her phone. The place did look really creepy. She doubted that this Josh guy lived there though, despite the cut grass. She knew abandoned buildings when she saw them. After all, places like that were the staples that brought up the views on the Youtube videos of the groups’ ghost hunting team, the Unveilers. She could still hear Chris’s voice in her head proclaiming proudly, with a wave of his arm, and a smile on his face: “How about the Unveilers? Because we peek behind the veil of this world and the next.” Despite the grumblings from Emily and Mike about how silly the name sounded, it stuck.

“Hey Sam,” a voice said and she looked up from her phone. Matt was coming over to her, looking over her shoulder. “Personal space,” she laughed, only turning away slightly.

Matt smiled, winding a cord in his hand that likely belonged to a camera, and didn’t move.

“What are you doing?” Sam asked, setting her phone down. She looked around the meeting room, which were the white painted walls of Emily’s basement. Emily liked to brag about how her parents let her use the basement with her friends and always insisted it be kept spotless, even though Emily’s parents had rarely used the room before the group took it up as their headquarters. There was a bulletin board on the far side with a map and red pins where the group had gone and filmed already. White pins dotted possible or future locations. A round table was in the middle of the room, where their equipment sat. Chairs were scattered about, ranging from metal to cushioned wooden ones. The room was lit with fluorescent tubes, which annoyed Ashley every time they were turned on, because they gave her headaches, but she never said a word to Emily about it.

Matt shrugged. “Putting some things away,” he answered, turning his back for a moment to push the cord into a duffel bag, which was sitting on a chair. His football jacket caught the light and Sam rolled her eyes. Matt never seemed to take that jacket off. She picked her phone back up and searched for the town that Chris mentioned, a little island just off the Texas shore. They hadn’t gone that far into Texas before, hopefully Mike wouldn’t turn down the road trip.

It wasn’t long before Sam heard someone upstairs, which she was sure, had to be Mike. Sam turned to Matt, who was sitting down with his phone out, squinting at the screen. “How do you get reception down here?”

Sam shrugged. “Better phone.”

Matt looked up at her and went to respond when they heard the person come to the door. It opened, the dull green coat of paint shining in the light, and Mike came in.

“That was fast,” Sam said slowly. “I hope you weren’t texting and driving.”

Mike stared at her. “Now why would you think that? Are you my parents?”

“Is that a confession?” someone else said behind Mike. He turned to let them come in with a smile.

“Guys, this is Jess, my girlfriend.”

“Hi,” Sam said. She glanced at Mike, because up until a few weeks ago, he was dating Emily. It was no secret that Mike had moved on, but bringing his new girlfriend here was not the best idea. Sam’s eyes moved to look at Jess. Did she believe in ghosts? Did she even know what they did?

Jess moved across the room to shake Sam’s hand with a sincere smile. “Mike’s told me all about your little group, so I had to come check it out.”

Sam smiled back, a little forced. “Did he tell you what we do?”

Jess dropped Sam’s hand and gave a one shouldered shrug. “Something about Youtube, not that I care. I just want to spend time getting to know his friends.”

Sam looked at Mike again, who gave a cringey smile. Sam looked back at Jess. “Well Mike and I have to talk, you can stay here with Matt though, I’m sure the others will be along soon.”

Sam went over and dragged Mike out the open door and around the corner, to stand by the basement stairs. “What?” Mike hissed, tugging his jacket free from Sam’s hand and smoothed it down.

“We could be on the road in the next few hours and you thought you could bring her along?” Sam whispered sharply, gesturing to the room.

“I didn’t know we had anything until you texted me, I already had Jess with me as it was.”

Sam sighed, shaking her head. “She doesn’t even know what we do.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you going to tell her?”

Mike shrugged. “Maybe, does it matter? It’s not like we’re making this a living or anything. We’re not famous and are just traveling by ourselves across the country at this point.”

Sam dropped her arms. “Is that what you think of us?”

Mike went to respond when Sam shook her head, once. “You need to figure out fast what this group means to you.” She pointed at his chest, and then turned as she heard someone on the stairs.

“Hey guys, sorry I’m tardy to the party,” Chris said.

Sam turned to Chris and put on a smile that she didn’t exactly feel. “You sleep in an extra ten minutes after you texted me?” she joked.

“Nope,” Chris replied, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. “Had to pick up Ashley.”

Sam glanced behind Chris to see Ashley standing a few stairs up.

Ashley waved at Sam and Mike, before glancing back at Chris.

“You gentleman,” Mike said with a smirk to Chris, who ignored him and turned to Ashley.

“Let’s go see how Matt’s doing with the equipment,” Chris said. “If there’s no bitching we should have a house to look into.” Ashley followed him to the meeting room with a soft “sure”.

Sam glanced back at Mike once Chris and Ashley were gone. “There’s still time to tell Jess what she’s gotten into before we head out,” she said before following after Ashley and Chris.

Mike sighed and ran a hand over his face. He took a few steps over to the room when quick, stomping feet came down the stairs. He turned around. “Morning Em,” he said.

“Morning,” Emily huffed, walking past Mike.

“Jeez, what’s bothering you?”

Emily passed by him to stand in front of the meeting room door. “My parents took me shopping, we were going to the mall, but none of the stores that I wanted to go into were open. My parents said we couldn’t stay, they were concerned I would miss our little meeting,” she explained. “God! They care more about you guys than I do!”

Mike winced. “That’s kinda’ harsh Em.”

Emily arched an eyebrow. “Like you care.” She opened the door that Sam had closed.

Emily marched right over to Matt, who was standing at the table, preparing the cameras with Chris and Ashley. Emily hugged Matt and groaned into him.

“Hey Em,” Matt said, arms raised a little so he didn’t hit her with the camera as he turned to set it down. “What’s wrong?”

“My parents wouldn’t let me go shopping. They thought I should spend time with everyone.” She sighed.

“Uh,” Matt said, looking at everyone. All eyes were on the two of them.

“Today won’t be a total loss,” Chris said, moving to stick a pin in the map.

Emily picked her head up, pulling away from Matt a little. “Why do you say that?”

“If there’s no issue, we should be heading to investigate a house in Texas.”

“Texas?” Emily repeated, hands on her hips. “Am I supposed to shell out air fare again?”

“We could always drive,” Jess said. Everyone looked between her and Emily, the tension was instantly obvious and even more uncomfortable than when Emily had walked in, acting like no one was around.

Emily walked over to Jess, who was standing on the other side of the table, watching the packing. “Who are you?” Emily sized Jess up in one glance.

“Mike’s new girlfriend. And who are you? The roadie?”

Emily gave a humorless laugh. “Oh! Honey, no. Don’t hurt yourself; I’m the one who helps this little group get across the country, because no one else has the funds.”

The two glared at each other, moving into each other’s personal space, inches from striking blows. It was then that Mike walked over to Jess, wrapping an arm around her waist. “Ladies, no need to scratch each other’s eyes out.” He turned to the map and everyone gathered around him. “So what’s the deal with the Texas house?”

“A guy named Josh Washington called me and told me it was his old house, and that it was haunted,” Chris explained. “Apparently he and his parents live in the mountains now and left the house to fall apart once they moved out.”

“Did he say who was haunting it?” Ashley asked.

“Yeah, his sisters. Seems they fell out of the second story window and cracked their heads on the walk. He wants us to come look around.”

“Sounds like it’d be fun,” Mike said. “Anyone besides Em object to going?”

No one spoke up. “Alright, we’re going to Texas ya’ll!” Mike exclaimed with a grin.

Investigation  


Chris sighed as he stood in the bustling Houston airport. It had been a long nine hour plane trip from New York and everyone was tired and hungry. The group climbed into a van driven by an Uber driver with their luggage in the back, and headed off. Chris stared at the texts from Josh, his phone in his lap. Aside from these and the frantic phone call, Josh was a mystery. Chris couldn’t help but be concerned for Josh though. How long did he know the house was haunted? Did his parents believe him that it was? Was he scared to come back now? Chris pondered over these questions before Sam interrupted his thinking.

“Hey Chris, we’re thinking of going somewhere to eat, what do you want?”

Chris looked up from his phone. “Are we going to leave the equipment with the Uber driver?”

“We could always stop at the hotel and order room service,” Emily said from the middle of the van, next to Mike and Jess.

Mike scoffed. “Only if you’re offering to pay Em.” He leaned against Jess.

Emily grumbled under her breath.

“Ok,” Sam said. “So where do we want to eat?”

The next ten minutes were the longest of Chris’s life. Everyone argued about where to go and the driver took his time circling the restaurants of down town Houston.

They finally decided on McDonald’s, much to Ashley’s, Matt’s, and Sam’s disappointment.

“Come on you guys,” Mike groaned. “They have salads, and besides I like my burgers, no matter how greasy they are. I’m not into sports, so I don’t care if it ruins my figure and screw the environment.”

Chris rolled his eyes as Sam called Mike a killer and threw in something about baby cows. Chris patted Ashley’s hand, as she was sitting in between him and Matt, muttering, “Mike can be a dick sometimes.” Ashley smiled softly.

After they ate, they finally got to the hotel. Chris was so exhausted he didn’t care that he was going to share a room with Mike and Matt. Chris just wanted to lie down and rest. He blanked out the elevator ride up to their room and shuffled to their room. Once the door was opened, he went in and fell back onto the bed with a sigh, closing his eyes, and leaving his luggage at the foot of the bed. The sound of the door closing and the sound of one person moving around in the room didn’t register to Chris right away.

“Seriously, Mike just left his stuff here,” Matt scoffed from the bathroom doorway.

Chris grunted. “Dude, he’s going to do what he wants, he always does. As long as he doesn’t do it here, I don’t care where he is.”

Matt sighed and went back into the bathroom, to brush his teeth while Chris opened his eyes and kicked his shoes off. He took his glasses off then, set them on the nightstand and rolled under the covers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Josh was nervous as he stood in the mid morning sun. He had nightmares last night about Beth and Hannah, his sisters were calling to him for help as he stood in a blank room and their images swirled around him in a mist like form. He had woken in a cold sweat, which wasn’t a surprise anymore. His parents didn’t know that he was back at the old home, he had given them an excuse that he was going to visit friends. He stood across the street, staring at the faded green shutters, wondering why of all the paint on the house those ugly things were the last to go. His eyes scanned down the house and fixed on the walk right under the second story porch. He swore he could still see their bodies shimmering there in the summer heat like a mirage that should have gone away.

As Josh looked at the house, he got the feeling that he was being watched. He slowly, reluctantly, drew his eyes up towards the second floor widow, near the front door. Someone was standing in the window. Josh’s eyes widened and he felt his mouth drop open, either to call out or in surprise, it was hard to tell. The shadow figure turned, revealing a faded butterfly tattoo on the shoulder. Josh swore his legs turned to jelly as the figure moved away from the window. “Hannah,” he croaked. Just then the sound of a car pulling up next to him pulled his attention away from the house.

“You Josh?” a guy with blonde hair and glasses asked, getting out of a dark van.

“Depends, you Chris?” The instant thought that this guy was cute entered Josh’s head.

Chris smiled and stuck his hand out. “Nice to meet you Josh.”

Josh stood up straight and attempted a weak smile as he shook Chris’s hand, trying to ignore how warm his flesh felt.

“So this is the rest of the Unveilers.” A red haired girl who was staring at Chris was Ashley, the black football guy was Matt, the blonde was Sam and she was talking to the tall guy who was Mike, then there was the raven haired girl who was Emily, and she was glaring at the blonde in pigtails who was Jess. From what Josh had seen of their Youtube videos, which he had watched as research, to see if they could help him, Matt, Ashley, and Chris were the tech/AV assistants while Sam, Mike, and Emily were the ones who did the hunting for ghosts. Josh stared quizzically at Jess, he had no idea who she was. Was she new?

“Mike’s new arm candy,” Chris muttered, as if reading Josh’s mind.

Josh nodded and smiled genuinely at Chris, feeling better with them all here. “What about you pilgrim, got anyone special?”

Chris blushed at the direct question, which made Josh smile, but Chris shook his head and Josh could see Ashley staring at them from the back of the van, as if she knew something. If Josh didn’t have other things to worry about, he’d want to get to know Chris better, because it was obvious Chris was single.

“Ok,” Mike said, coming over with Sam. “We’re going to start filming as soon as possible. We’re just going to talk to you about the house before we go inside.”

“Fine,” Josh said, eyeing the handheld cameras that were pulled out and distributed. He had a dark sense that he shouldn’t say anything about the house, but shifted his footing, he had to let someone know, even if it was the internet.

To get out of the way of the street, everyone followed Josh to the front door. He had taken the keys for the doors from his dad’s storage chest when he was asleep early yesterday morning. Mike told Josh to stand just in front of the front door, and with a nod, three cameras turned on. Mike stood on Josh’s left, Sam on Josh’s right and Emily was beside her, with Jess next to Mike. “We’re in Galveston Texas, who knew Texas had an island?” Mike said, right into the cameras. “And we’re with our new buddy Josh, who used to live here with his sisters. Josh, why don’t you tell us about this place.”

Josh glanced into Chris’s camera,as the three with the cameras were behind everyone, just for a second before turning to Mike. “I lived here with my sisters, Hannah and Beth.” 

Josh wasn’t picked up on Ashley’s camera as a car went by and covered up his audio. “It was about six years ago, I had just started high school, Hannah and Beth were a year younger than me, they were twins.”

“What happened to them?” Sam asked.

Josh turned to her. “They died, fell off the porch upstairs, hit right over there.” He pointed to the spot on the other side of the house. He saw Ashley turn to zoom in on the walk. 

“The police said it was an accident, that they fell, slipped over the railing. But…” He gazed up at the house.

“But what?” Emily pressed.

Josh turned back to the cameras. “I think that maybe one of them falling could have been an accident, but both of them, it had to be something else. And they had to crawl through the window to get out there…”

“Are there any undocumented deaths in the house that you know of?” Sam asked as Josh trailed off.

Josh shrugged. “Maybe, the whole island has history dating back to the 1800’s.” He came out of whatever had passed over him when he mentioned his sisters.

“Could any of the possible spirits be demonic?” Emily asked with a tilt of her head.

Josh stared at her for a long moment. “A lot is possible.” He was just barely picked up by Chris’s camera, who was closest. “I just know that my sisters were scared of something when they died.”

“How do you know that?” Mike asked with a huff.

“I heard them screaming, my parents didn’t wake up…” Tears welled in his eyes. Chris shut his camera off.

“Hey, it’s ok.” Chris walked up to Josh’s side to comfort him.

Josh sniffed back the tears and wiped them away with a dig of his knuckles. “I’m fine pilgrim, don’t worry about me. You must see stuff like this all the time.”

“Yeah.” Chris sat down on the steps. “But they were your sisters, man. That’s not something you can get over easily.”

Josh hicupped on a sob. “My parents…It’s sucked for them, you know? But they didn’t see what happened. They didn’t…” He placed his head in his hands and after a moment, felt Chris’s tentative hand on his back, just patting reassuringly. “Thanks,” Josh whispered.

The others dispersed across the street and the cameras focused on the team as they left Josh for a moment. The wind blew and Emily said something, not caught by either camera. “This has never happened before,” Mike said over the crackling of the wind on the microphone.

“People get emotional about where we investigate all the time,” Sam countered.

“But not like this, I mean, that guy’s messed up. He needs to be on meds or something, because even if something in that house did kill his sisters, he’s not handling it well.”

Emily scoffed. “Would you handle it well if your family died?”

Mike went to answer when Sam said, “Hey guys, there’s someone staring at us.”

They all turned to look across the street, right across from where Josh’s house was, at a house where a older guy stood with a dark brown jacket, lighting up a cigarette. “Him?” Emily asked.

“Yeah,” Sam answered. “He’s looking right at us.”

“Maybe he just wants to know what we’re doing,” Jess said with a sigh.

“Or maybe he knows something,” Ashley supplied.

They all headed over across the street, into the shade as a cloud passed over the sun.

“Wait here,” Sam told Matt and Ashley and walked up to the man with Mike, Emily, and Jess. Sam talked with the man for a moment, then waved Matt and Ashley over. “Keep the cameras pointed at his feet. He doesn’t want his face on the internet.” The cameras were positioned as instructed.

“It’s a shame to see someone exploiting the Washington's like this,” the man said, flicking his ash to the ground.

“We’re not…” Emily started to say.

“Those girls were bright, good hearted,” the man went on like Emily hadn’t said a word. “Their poor parents were devastated the night they were killed.”

Mike and Sam looked at each other. “Why do you think they died?” Mike asked.

The man shook his head. “I can’t say for sure, but something is wrong with that house. Didn’t like the Washingtons there and took the girls as punishment.”

“How do you know this?” Jess asked, pushing in between Mike and Emily. “Because you sound sketchy.”

“I’ve been living here for my whole life,” the man explained, flicking more ash onto the ground. “I’ve seen some strange things happen to that house. It stood abandoned for some time before the family before the Washingtons moved in. Once they fixed the place up and settled in was when things went wrong. They’d wake up in the middle of the night hearing things being moved. This went on for months, never got much sleep that way. Then it got worse, they were being attacked, scratched, pushed around in the daytime and at night…well they feared to sleep. The night before they moved out, the neighbors and I heard screaming from inside the house. We tried to get inside but the doors wouldn’t open. They weren’t locked, something was keeping us from getting inside. Eventually the screaming stopped and the family came out. They looked awful, lack of sleep and the horror that they had seen…”

“What did they see?” Sam asked. They had all let the man ramble on, not sure if they should interrupt or not, but now when he had paused, they could ask questions.

The man shook his head, took a last drag on a cigarette and threw it down, snuffing it out with his boot. “They didn’t say, just left the next morning with as much stuff as they could take. But about twenty years later, the Washingtons moved in. Once they fixed the place up, well…it all came back again obviously. I tried to warn them, but they wouldn’t listen to me. I think the girls read up about the place, once they were old enough, as did Josh. If anything happened while the girls were growing up, no one knew, the Washingtons kept it to themselves. But Josh…now I’m not saying he provoked whatever is in that house…but he was a strong headed kid, he didn’t know what he was doing.” The man shook his head again, as if to clear some thoughts away. “Even if they never told us, their concerned neighbors, what was going on in that house, we started to see things. Shadows moving during the day, lights on at night when no one was home, pets keeping clear of the place, among other things. We all hoped they would see the danger before it was too late, maybe move before something terrible happened.”

“But they didn’t move, did they?” Mike asked, although the answer was obvious.

“The night those girls died, I heard them screaming.”

“Josh said his parents didn’t hear his sisters screaming though,” Emily told him.

“That’s likely, but I heard ‘em. I came outside and called up to the girls, to come to the porch. I thought I could help them down from there. They came out to the rail, then stopped, I’m not sure if they were too scared to jump or if they didn’t want to leave Josh alone. Either way, they stopped and the next thing I know, they’re pressed against the railing, talking over each other about how something moved and was getting closer. Then they fell.”

The group all looked at each other. “Did you see what they saw?” Sam asked after a moment.

The man gave a short shake of his head. “But I bet they were pushed by something in that house. It wasn’t an accident, that porch is sturdy as ever.”

They turned to look at the house, glancing at the rail for the second story. They turned back and Sam thanked the man for his time, before they went back over to Chris and Josh.

Nighttime

Once night had fallen, and a tour of the house was over, the infrared cameras were filled with batteries and everyone was mentally prepared, they entered the house and spread out. Josh was to wait for them by the door, with the keys and a computer that would link to all their cameras, so he would know where everyone was. Chris and Sam went into the basement, Emily and Matt took the first floor, and Mike, Jess, and Ashley took the second floor.

The stairs creaked as Sam and Chris walked down them. “I can’t see,” Sam muttered, hands on the wall and rail to support herself till she reached the floor and moved off to the side so Chris could film her.

“It’s pretty creepy in here. I can’t believe Josh lived here for over a decade.”

Sam shrugged. “He must have gotten used to it, wrote off the sounds that he heard…” She trailed off as she listened, trying to figure out if she was imagining what she heard. She mentally placed where the others were and glanced up, scanning the floorboards to see where Emily and Matt were.

“Did you hear something?”

“I thought I did,” Sam muttered. “Must have been Emily and Matt. Let’s get away from them, so they don’t contaminate our session.” She moved further into the basement, walking slowly, sure Chris would say something if there was anything in her way.

Chris didn’t say anything as he noticed the wooden rocking horse on its side in front of Sam and snickered as she tripped and fell.

“Damn it Chris!” Sam exclaimed as she got up and dusted herself off. “You were supposed to tell me if I was going to trip, we agreed!”

“Sorry Sam, couldn’t help it.” Chris helped brush her off with a chuckle.

Sam scoffed. “Now isn’t the time for pranks,” she muttered when Chris shushed her. “What?” she whispered. They listened for a few seconds, then Chris pulled out a EVP or electronic voice phenomenon recorder that he had in his pocket and turned it on.

“Is someone there?” Chris slowly turned to look around the bare basement, noting an old water heater and washer in one corner. Then he heard a voice talking behind him and he whirled around. “Who’s there?”

“Hannah? Beth?” Sam asked. “We didn’t mean to disturb you, but Josh sent us. Is there anything you want to tell him?”

The two stood there for a few silent moments then jumped when a mouse came running out from a slightly collapsed corner in the wall. “God…!” Sam hissed.

“Could have been worse, could have been a rat, they’re bigger.”

“Thanks, that’s very comforting Chris,” Sam drawled, sarcasm clear in her voice.

“Any time.”

Meanwhile, upstairs, Emily and Matt stood in the kitchen. “It’s disgusting in here,” Emily complained, standing in between the rusted sink and a lonely chair, marking where the table had been.

“No one’s lived in here for years Em, there’s a long time for dust to collect.”

Emily grumbled something and pulled out her EVP recorder. She waited a moment as it turned on, before looking around. “Is anyone there who would like to give us a message?”

Silence descended upon them and Matt glanced over towards where the front door was, before a tap sounded on the window behind Emily. Emily yelped and turned to the window. “What was that?” she whispered. She went over and peered out into the dark. “You heard that right?”

“Yeah, I heard that. Can you see anyone out there?”

Emily shook her head. “I thought it was that guy we talked to earlier, he seems really creepy, but…his lights are on on the other side of his house. And there’s no trees or anything, I don’t see any cars that could have kicked up a rock in this direction…” She turned to Matt.

“Do that again,” Matt demanded to the room and they waited. A moment passed before there was another knock on the window.

Emily jumped and muttered to herself, “Stay calm, stay calm. You can do this.”

Matt whirled, hearing another tap behind him on the wall. “Em,” he hissed.

“I heard it,” she whispered, inching closer to Matt. “You’re getting all of this?”

“Yeah.” He heard the tap go around the room.

“Matt, I don’t like this.” The taping increased into two sets. “We’ve-we’ve never really dealt with more than a few whispers before.”

“It’s ok Em, just keep calm.” Matt grabbed hold of her hand. Eventually the tapping stopped and they breathed easier.

“Let’s get out of here.” Emily pulled her hand from Matt’s and walked off.

At the same time, upstairs, Mike and Jess were sitting on the foot of the dusty bed in what had been Josh’s room, if the sign on the door hadn’t said otherwise, it would have been obvious from the poster of Megan Fox. “So, uh Jess, what’s up with you and Emily?” Ashley asked as they sat in the dark.

Jess gave a soft laugh. “There’s nothing up between us, she’s just jealous that Mike’s moved on to someone better.” She leaned against him, arms wrapped around the one that wasn’t holding the EVP recorder. Mike smiled at her.

“You guys seemed ready to get pretty nasty when we were in the meeting room though,” Ashley went on.

Jess shrugged. “Maybe she feels like she got second best and is angry.”

“Ok, quit gossiping,” Mike hissed. “Hannah, Beth, if you’re there, give us a sign.”

They waited and after a few minutes passed, nothing happened. Jess sighed. “Maybe they’re not here.” She got up.

“We’re not done yet.” Mike grabbed Jess’s hand. “Just give it a little more time. ” He pulled her back to the bed. Mike cleared his throat. “If anyone is here with us, can you give us a sign to prove it?”

A long stretch of silence followed and then Ashley turned quickly to the hallway. “What was that?” she hissed.

“Was that a little girl laughing?” Jess asked, leaning to peer out into the dark.

“Hannah? Beth?” Ashley called, voice wavering. “Was that you?”

“I don’t think…,” Mike said when Ashley scrambled to her feet proclaiming, “I just saw something at the other end of the hall!”

Ashley moved to the doorway and called, “Who’s there?” Silence fell for a few good long mintues before Ashley exclaimed “What the Hell?” as something whizzed past her head and hit the floor, skidding across the room.

Jess and Mike got to their feet. “What was that?” Mike asked as he looked around for a moment for whatever was thrown, and Ashley turned to him.

“I don’t know, but there’s no one out there, and it threw something at me! It doesn’t want us here!”

“Mike, what the Hell is happening?” Jess asked. “You said this wasn’t going to be a big deal. You said that we didn’t have to worry!”

“Yeah, well I was wrong!” Mike exclaimed.

“You guys,” Ashley muttered.

Mike and Jess turned to Ashley, before they paused and heard laughing coming from the hallway. “There’s no one out there,” Ashley whispered, her voice breaking.

Downstairs, Josh watched everything from the laptop as he sat with his back against the door. He was crying, tears rolling down his face, but he kept from sobbing by biting on his wrist. He knew what was happening, maybe not why, but it was like he had never left. The activity, the spirits didn’t like the group being there and Josh was sure they didn’t like anyone in the house. He just hoped nothing was being caused by Hannah or Beth, they wouldn’t want to chase anyone out, they just wanted to be at peace. The activity would only get worse the longer everyone was in the house, but Josh had never seen it so bad in one night. The thought that the activity was increasing due to Josh himself being there made him sob and curl into a ball. Someone was going to get hurt if they didn’t leave, he could feel it. “It’s all my fault.” He glanced at the three separate camera feeds.

“Josh,” a soft voice whispered in his ear.

Josh’s head shot up and he looked around, but he didn’t see anyone. “Hello?” he called, heart pounding as he was afraid of what would answer him.

“It’s us Josh.”

“N-no,” Josh moaned. “It can’t be, you’re dead. You were supposed to move on!”

“We can’t Josh. There’s evil here that won’t let us. The same evil that will hurt your friends…”

Josh shook his head, sniffing back the tears. “What am I supposed to do?”

“You know. Help them.”

“How?” Josh’s eyes widened as he realized what he had to do. “Hey!” he called, getting up. “Come here! Guys!”

It didn’t take long for all of the Unveilers to come to Josh’s side. They seemed concerned. “You-you have to leave,” Josh told them.

“We’re kind of in the middle of investigating,” Mike said, standing in the middle, gesturing to the cameras. “And we’ve been getting good stuff.”

Josh shook his head, grabbing his hair, for something to hold onto as he put the laptop on the floor. “No! That doesn’t matter! That stuff will kill you just like it killed my sisters!”

Mike scoffed. “Ghosts can’t harm us.”

“Actually Mike…,” Sam went to explain from Josh’s right.

“Josh,” Chris said, next to Sam, laying a hand on the oldest Washington’s shoulder. “We get it that this is a bad idea, but it’s not going to kill us.”

Josh shook off Chris’s hand. “You’re wrong!”

“Look,” Mike cut in before things got out of control. “We got some solid evidence, I think everyone but Sam and myself should leave.”

Exclamations of how that was unfair arose. Mike talked over them. “I want to see what happens when we let Josh interact with whatever is here.”

Everyone fell silent and looked at Josh.

“Wh-?” Josh got out. “No, I can’t!”

“It’s ok, we’ll be right with you,” Sam said, gently placing a hand on his arm.

“Chris, give Sam your camera,” Mike said. As Chris did so, Mike went on. “We shouldn’t be too long, no more than two hours.”

Emily snorted. “That’s not fast when we have to wait for you.”

Mike shot her a look then held his hand out to Josh. “Keys.”

Josh fished the keys out of his pocket, but handed them to Chris. “Here you go pilgrim.” He was trying to act like nothing was wrong, clapped Chris on the shoulder, and moved out of the way so everyone else could leave.

Once the group was outside and the door locked, Josh followed Mike upstairs with Sam behind him. They walked silently towards Hannah and Beth’s rooms. “I haven’t been in there in…,” Josh said softly, as Mike opened the door to Beth’s room.

“They might show themselves with you around,” Mike whispered.

They walked into the room, Josh stayed near the door. As Mike began to ask questions, Josh heard his sisters again.

“Why does he want to see us Josh? We just want to be left alone. We don’t have the energy to show him.”

“I-I…Go away,” he moaned.

“Josh?” Sam asked, turning to him, from where she stood, next to Mike. “You ok?”

Josh was panting a little and glanced to Sam. “What?”

“Are you alright? You said something…strange.”

“No, no I’m fine,” Josh answered with a shake of his head and wave of his hand to brush away the subject.

Mike and Sam exchanged glances and Mike went on asking questions, asking for Hannah or Beth to show themselves or to make sounds to let them know they were there. Nothing happened for some time.

“Strange,” Sam said as they got up. “They were active all the way up until now.”

“Let’s try Hannah’s room,” Mike said, heading out.

Josh followed and felt…something. He stood in the doorway again and as Mike started asking the same questions calling for Hannah, Josh swore he saw a shadow sit down next to Mike on the bed. Apparently Josh squeaked out something in response, because once again Sam asked if he was ok.

“There’s something…I thought,” Josh tried to say.

“What? Did you see something?”

Josh stared at the space beside Mike. The shadow was gone. “I don’t think so.” He kept staring at that spot for the next few moments as Mike and Sam asked questions and brought out the EVP recorders. When Sam asked if Hannah could show herself, Josh felt that something again, right in front of him, the space felt different, the hair on the back of his neck stood up and he stumbled backwards.

“No! No, I can’t do this! I can’t!” He slid down the wall, curled in a ball beside the door-frame and Sam turned to him, about to go over there.

“He’ll be ok,” Mike told her.

“I don’t think he’s ok now,” Sam said. She took a step towards Josh and a inhuman scream was heard out in the hallway. “What was that?”

Mike got up and peered into the dark hallway. “I don’t see anything. Let’s go see.” He moved out into the hallway and Josh sprung to his feet.

“No! Don’t!” He went after Mike.

Sam followed, watching Josh grab at Mike and try to pull him back towards the room.

Mike shrugged Josh off. “What’s your problem?”

“That scream, I heard it before, when my sisters…oh God my sisters,” Josh babbled. “It woke them and they went to investigate…”

A floorboard creaked down the hall and Sam hissed, “Guys, I hear something.”

All three only breathed for a few moments, listening for any sounds. Then Mike humphed and turned to Sam. “I guess…” he started to say when there was another scream and a being flashed into existence before rushing at the three. “Holy shit!” Mike ducked as the figure vanished above them.

“Hannah?” Josh called weakly. “Hannah, we’re sorry for disturbing you. But please, you have to let us help you. Please.” His knees knocked together and he collapsed to the floor.

“Josh!” Sam exclaimed, bending to help him up.

The figure came back and rushed them again. A wave of hot air flowed over them.

“Come on let’s go!” Mike proclaimed, heading for the stairs. “We stay any longer and something worse is going to happen!”

Sam helped Josh up and followed Mike out of the house.

Post Investigation

The day after the Unvielers arrived back in New York, Chris, Ashley, and Matt went to work editing their footage and listening to the EVP recorders. While they were working, Ashley glanced at Matt, they were seated at the table. “Emily seems…less angry at Jess,” Ashley said.

“Well I think this investigation changed both of them. Jess found out what we did and Emily found out she didn’t need Mike after all.”

“Why did she think she wanted him again anyway?” Ashley asked.

Matt looked up from his work. “You know how she is, everything has to be perfect. I’m not perfect. So she felt like she…had downgraded. And Emily was sure Jess was only along for extra views, to get the viewers to feel like they could connect to her, since she was new to this.”

Ashley went to say more when Chris unplugged his headphones. “You have to hear this.”

“Get out,” a voice whispered harshly.

“Where was that?” Ashley asked.

“When Sam and I were in the basement.”

“Creepy,” Ashley muttered.

They continued working silently, switching from editing and listening with their headphones until Ashley gasped. “Hey, listen, I got a voice too,” she told the two guys. She played the recording and got a sharp hissing “Screw you” right over her own voice.

“Harsh,” Chris muttered.

“Yeah, but listen again. We heard a girl laughing, does this sound like a girl?” She played the voice again.

“Sounds like a guy to me,” Matt said, standing up, as he had been leaning over Ashley to hear the voice.

“That can’t be Hannah or Beth.”

“The house is old, it’s likely people died there, remember Josh said that,” Chris told her.

“But such an angry voice…”

The two guys went back to their work as Ashley ignored them to put her headphones back on.

Some time later, Ashley set the headphones down, face ashen.

“What?” Chris asked, pausing in his editing.

“Listen.” Ashley handed him the headphones. She pressed PLAY and a deep voice, again right over her own panicked one, bit out, “Die!”

“Something really didn’t like us being there.” Ashley took the headphones back.

“Yeah, but we got out ok,” Chris told her.

Ashley shook her head. “That’s not the point. You weren’t up there, it threw something at me! And look at what happened to Mike and Sam!” She sighed. “I never thought this…hobby would ever turn out this way. I mean, my parents don’t even know half the time where I’m going, just that we take road trips…”

Just as she was about to put the headphones back on, Chris put a hand on her shoulder. “If things ever get to you again let me know, I’ll help you as best as I can.”  
Ashley nodded and then turned back to her work.

Some time later, Chris stopped what he was doing and got the other two’s attention. “You know how Mike, Sam and Josh heard screams? That wasn’t all they got. Mike’s EVP recorder was still running and got this.” He pressed PLAY and a soft voice, a girl twittered, “Josh”.

“I thought I heard something else,” Ashley said, backing up the recording. She let it play, listening to Mike and Josh argue, when the deep voice whispered, “Come to me” just before the “Josh” was said. Ashley looked at Christ and Matt. “There are other spirits in that house. Josh said his sisters were protecting him, and Mike and Sam from whatever was there! The others have to know about this.”

Presentation

After the whole group had reviewed the edited footage and their findings, they set off to see a local professor, a Dr. Hill, who had his doctorate in parapsychology, as well as psychology.

Sam, and Mike sat with Dr. Hill in his small office, as he viewed their footage.

“You said this all happened in Texas, off the mainland,” Hill stated.

“Yes,” Sam said, hands folded in her lap as she sat in a chair on the other side of Hill’s desk, while Mike’s was closer to the doctor.

Hill hummed, continued watching on his computer screen, and said nothing for a few minutes. Sam turned to look at Chris, who had his back to one of Hills’ bookcases and had his camera on her.

Hill paused the footage right after the apparition appeared. He turned to Mike and Sam, Emily stood beside Matt and Ashley behind the two, as there were only two chairs to sit in.

“You managed to capture some spectacular evidence. This house is very active, even more so with the young man Josh involved. Though I have one question.” Hill looked at Sam. “Did you hear the voices in the basement, or was that more movement from other people in your group?”

“I’m not sure. I heard something, like a breath of a whisper. We all know that even if the spirits are shouting to us, we can’t hear them directly most times.”

Hill crossed his legs, one over the other’s knee. “That is true.” He turned back to the footage and played it to the end, then backed it up to Josh’s collapse. “Do we know Josh’s mental state?”

“Uh, why?” Chris asked, worry coiling in his gut. Ever since they had left Texas, Chris had been constantly texting Josh, to see if he was ok. Josh was back with his parents, who were constantly fussing over him and wanting him to talk about what had happened, but Josh wouldn’t. Chris was just trying to provide as much support as he could.

“Even with the help he gave you, Sam’s concern here is genuine, there is something wrong with that boy.” Hill shut off the footage and turned to Mike and Sam again. “I can’t say for certain, but the moments where Josh…spaced out…well they are worrisome. Something is going on in his head that I feel he should seek help for.”

“What? Are you saying he’s crazy?” Chris asked, disbelief in his voice. Josh didn’t talk about what had happened and Chris never pushed, there was no need to assume Josh was crazy just from a few momentary lapses in interacting with other people.

Hill turned to him. “I’m saying he needs to see someone, to talk about what that house did to him. You’re all still too new to know about the effects a haunting can have on a person, but if someone isn’t believed they begin to question their sanity.”

“Even if Josh’s parents did believe him, that’s not the problem, he watched his sisters get killed,” Chris huffed. That wasn’t something you just got over or talked about easily.

Hill nodded. “Which did terrible things to him, and from what I can see, he feels that he is partially responsible for that.” He glanced at Mike and Sam. “What do you plan on doing with your evidence?”

“We were thinking, now that we have a presence online,” Mike explained. “We could send this to a TV station, maybe get a show?”

Hill nodded. “I wish you luck for that. You might just get picked up because of your team dynamic.”

Mike and Sam stood. “Thank you for letting us film you,” Sam told Hill, shaking his hand.

“All I ask in return is that someone gets Josh the help he needs.”

There was silence as the group looked around at each other.

“You’ll regret it if you don’t. I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough that doing this can harm people and not just physically. Josh has been suffering for years. You helped show the world what is in his old house, now help him by showing him that he’s not alone.”

The group all looked at each other again, then slowly left Hill’s office.

**Author's Note:**

> the images I found on Google  
> I'm on tumblr, come find me-I'm shipperfiendobssesser


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